''The Jimmy Dean Show'' is the name of several similar music and

variety series Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a compère ...

on American local and

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematic ...

television between 1963 and 1975. Each starred

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer

Jimmy Dean Jimmy Ray Dean (August 10, 1928 – June 13, 2010) was an American country music singer, television host, actor and businessman. He was the creator of the Jimmy Dean sausage brand as well as the spokesman for its TV commercials. He became ...

as host.

Daytime

''The Jimmy Dean Show'', initially called ''Country Style'', aired live on WTOP-TV in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morg ...

in early 1957. It was picked up by the CBS-TV network from April 8 to December 13, 1957, under the name '' The Morning Show'' from 7 to 7:45 a.m. ET Monday–Friday before the station's regular newscast. Guests included Chet Atkins, Jay Chevalier, Billy Walker,

Little Jimmy Dickens James Cecil Dickens (December 19, 1920 – January 2, 2015), better known by his stage name Little Jimmy Dickens, was an American country music singer and songwriter famous for his humorous novelty songs, his small size (4'11" 50 cm, and ...

, George Hamilton IV, and the Country Lads; Mary Klick was a regular. The producer was

Connie B. Gay Connie Barriot Gay (August 22, 1914 – December 3, 1989) was renowned as a "founding father" and "major force" in country music. He is credited for coining the country music genre, which had previously been called hillbilly music. Gay was the ...

. CBS then carried ''The Jimmy Dean Show'' on its daytime schedule from September 14, 1958, to June 1959 from New York, airing from 2 to 2:30 p.m. ET Monday–Saturday. Guests on the variety program included Hans Conried and

Jaye P. Morgan Jaye P. Morgan (born Mary Margaret Morgan) is a retired American popular music singer, actress, and game show panelist. Early life Morgan was born in Mancos in Montezuma County in far southwestern Colorado. Her family moved to California by ...

Prime time

''The Jimmy Dean Show'' aired as a live half-hour summer series from Washington, DC, on CBS-TV from June 22 to September 14, 1957 from 10:30 to 11 p.m. on Saturday nights. Guests included

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his c ...

Jim Reeves James Travis Reeves (August 20, 1923July 31, 1964) was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well known as a practitioner of the Nashville Sound. Known as "Gentlem ...

, and the

Andrews Sisters The Andrews Sisters were an American close harmony singing group of the swing and boogie-woogie eras. The group consisted of three sisters: contralto LaVerne Sophia Andrews (July 6, 1911 – May 8, 1967), soprano Maxene Anglyn Andrews (Januar ...

.. ''The Jimmy Dean Show'' was later an hour-long weekly music and variety television show carried by ABC for three seasons from September 19, 1963, to April 1, 1966, out of ABC Studio One in New York.
The Jimmy Dean Show Official Site - History Its first season was written by Peppiatt and Aylesworth, and

Scott Vincent Scott Vincent (December 24, 1922 – May 31, 1979) was an American radio and television announcer and newscaster. Radio Scott Vincent was a staff announcer for nearly 25 years at ABC's flagship owned-and-operated station WABC-TV in New York ...

was the announcer. Of the eighty-six episodes produced at ABC, ten shows were made on the road: four at the Ryman Auditorium in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and th ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 36th-largest by ...

; three at ABC Studios in Hollywood,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

; one in Winter Haven,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

, and one at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The variety program featured country performers such as George Jones, Buck Owens and Dean's former band member Roy Clark, and pop artists like the Everly Brothers and

Gene Pitney Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Pitney charted 16 top-40 hits in the United States, four in the top ten. In the United Kingdom, he had 22 top-40 hit singles, inclu ...

. Comics Jackie Mason, Don Adams, and Dick Shawn also appeared.

Muppet The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential style of variety-sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are the focus of a media franchise that encompasses ...

character Rowlf the Dog (performed by Jim Henson) debuted as a regular on the show, and during the premiere episode of the series in 1963, Dean interacted with an animated Fred Flintstone.
The Jimmy Dean Show Official Site ''The Jimmy Dean Show'' in 1964 hosted the first television appearance of

Hank Williams, Jr. Randall Hank Williams (born May 26, 1949), known professionally as Hank Williams Jr. or Bocephus, is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of southern rock, blues, and country. He is the son o ...

, who at the age of fourteen sang several songs associated with his legendary late father,

Hank Williams Hank Williams (born Hiram Williams; September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, he reco ...

Jimmy Dean and Rowlf the Dog

The show introduced Rowlf the Dog, his

side-kick, who often performed duets with Dean. Introduced each time as Dean's "ol' buddy", Rowlf was Jim Henson's first

to score a regular spot on a network television show and appeared in 85 of the 86 episodes. While

Don Sahlin Donald George Sahlin (June 19, 1928 – May 29, 1978) was a Muppet designer and builder who worked for Jim Henson from 1962 to 1977. Sahlin began making puppets at age 11, initially building a shadow theater and cardboard figurines. As an ...

maintained the puppet, Jerry Juhl assisted in writing the Rowlf sketches with the help of the show's staff writers and even assisted Jim Henson and Jimmy Dean on occasion. During production on episodes that featured Rowlf the Dog, Jim Henson would perform Rowlf with the Muppet's right arm operated by Frank Oz, and later by Jerry Nelson.
Jim Henson's Red Book entry, November 18, 1965 Henson was so grateful for the exposure Dean offered on his show that he in turn proposed that Dean take a 40 percent stake in The Jim Henson Company, Henson's company. Dean refused, however, later saying in 2005, "I didn't do anything to earn that."
Craig McDonald interviews Jimmy Dean, 2005 When it came to an episode of '' The Ed Sullivan Show'' that aired on October 8, 1967, Jimmy Dean and Rowlf the Dog were reunited one final time where they performed "

Friendship Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between people. It is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an "acquaintance" or an "association", such as a classmate, neighbor, coworker, or colleague. In some cultures, the concept of ...

" while doing the "herd of cows" gag.

Influence

Peppiatt and Aylesworth, a Canadian duo who wrote for ''The Jimmy Dean Show'', noted that while it had a country music star, and rural comedy was extremely popular in the 1960s, the show itself had quite little rural humor. In 1969, Peppiatt and Aylesworth created '' Hee Haw'' as a way to cater to the rural audience, bringing on two of Dean's most frequent guests as hosts, Buck Owens and Roy Clark.

ABC schedules

* September 1963 – March 1964: Thursday, 9–10 p.m. Eastern Time * March–August 1964: Thursday, 9:30–10:30 p.m. ET * September 1964 – September 1965: Thursday, 10–11 p.m. ET * September 1965 – April 1966: Friday, 10–11 p.m. ET

Home media and syndication

The longer-running prime-time series was produced on black and white videotape which was later disposed of by ABC. Eighty-two of the surviving 1960s reference 16mm

Kinescope Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program on motion picture film, directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor. The process was pioneered during the 194 ...

copies of the series were salvaged from the UCLA Archives by the Jimmy Dean Estate and restored by Donna Dean Stevens Entertainment in 2016 and 2017. In January 2017, the painstakingly remastered Season 1 of the show, which had not been seen in over 50 years, was released as a DVD set. The set includes exclusive interviews with Merle Haggard, Bobby Bare, Bill Anderson, and Donna Dean Stevens.
Jimmy Dean Show Restoration Press Conference Remastered by restoration producer and editor Steve Boyle, the restored show began broadcast on RFDTV on January 1, 2017.
The Jimmy Dean Show on RFDTV

Notes

References

* . * . * '' Billboard magazine, Billboard'', 1957–66

External links